My story: I was born with a reading disability. My grandma bought me comics to help me learn to read and keep up with my classmates. I was hooked. Started get Marvel comics for a dime a pop, at the outdoor swap meet at the farmer's market. Now, I just finished reading my fifth novel of the pandemic.

Comics are an important part of my childhood. I never got along with my dad very often but this is one of those stories that is very special to me. As a 70s kid there were a lot of things adults considered pointless for kids to do. One of those things was reading comic books. You were considered to be simple or slow if you read a comic instead of an actual book, except for my dad. without going into a long boring story over my childhood, one day I was really sick, probably the flu, my dad brought me home A BUNCH of Harvey comics, like Richie Rich, baby Huey, etc. and he told me "I dont care what you read, as long as you do & it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks about it". After I was feeling better, I went to the store and bought my first superhero comic book, which was Superman. I was totally hooked, spending most of my weekly allowance to buy up every superhero comic I could get my hands on, or at least all the Batman comics :). My father was not a nice man or a good parent/husband. He died from cancer when I was 17 and it took me until probably my mid-20s or even longer to realize he really did love me, and it is memories like this that convinced me. anyhow, I have and always will love comics, as they are a part of me thanks to my dad.

I was 9 or 10 years old, in the fourth grade. I was having a terrible time in school because until then none of my previous teachers had recognized that I had a learning disability, I'm dyslexic. I couldn't read at grade level, I struggled, so I hated reading. My reading teacher brought in her comics, which we were allowed to read after we finished our proper lesson, and I gravitated towards Wonder Woman. That was my first exposure to comics. Not long after that I remember finding an X-Men comic on the bottom shelf of a magazine rack at Rite Aide, a local chain drug store. (This is mid to late 80s so comics were still sold newstand style) I asked my mom if I could have it, she said yes, and every time I went to the drug store with her she'd let me get one. I've collected on and off ever since, depending on the current state of my finances. Wonder Woman and X-Men are still my largest collections, and my oldest.

witchblade actually attracted me to american comics in the 90s. before that i mainly read european comics that were big in my country. funny thing is a cover of witchblade was one of the exhibits on a large comic exhibition when i was in highschool. i didn't think much of it but the name kinds stuck with me. fast forward to my college time and i'm bored and with access to internet for the first time ever so i went on a massive comic googling spree and i remembered the name, witchblade. so i started browsing what was back then a massive repository of image comics artworks called image central, i loved the design for the very same reason as it reminded me of sil from species. and being a massive movie magic buff at the time that was a big plus for me. so it's a very pleasant surprise to hear someone else make that comparison, kudos!

For me, it was Spider-Man. When I was younger, I liked looking at comics, but I wouldn't read them. I just liked looking at the pictures and trying to figure out how to draw them. But I discovered Spider-Man had a sense of humor that I enjoyed reading and it was through his comics that I began my love of comic books.

Oooh. I love stories. Here's mine. I started collecting Harley Quinn when she first got her own title. I was in like my mid thirties at the time, and this was far from the first comic I had ever read or purchased. It's just where my addiction obsession really formed. My good friend who is a proper comic book nerd did his duty by making fun of me, but he did and still does accompany me on runs. Comics have always been there, just in the background. I've always been a nerd, but books are easier to get. I never thought it was something I could invest prescious resources in. I was buying X Men in the 90's, two issues a month with my little spending money. Just trying to get a grip on story lines and how the different abjective before the X title meant a different narritive. Which left me dizzy enough. Then Days of Future Past Happened. At first it was exciting, but I couldn't tred water with all the tie ins and need to buy more titles to keep up. I switched to Spiderman for awhile, then nothing for years. I remember once on a plane a guy had this three issue Dr. Doom arch. The one where he's abandoned on a desolate planet with nothing and he makes the most of it on Doom fashion. I said to myself, I'm an adult. I can buy all the comics I want. A couple years later I started buying the Harley series, and Walking Dead trades. The Sandman and Constantine. Riri Williams and Doom as Ironman. Lucifer. Black Panther. My formula is to buy classic critically acclaimed trades and single issues of whatever title I find compelling.

First comic I bought was a Solar Man of the Atom...I was seven years old.

Hi Sasha Totally love your videos. I am Cyprian, almost 58 years old and lived here on this island of Barbados for most of my life. And I have LOVED comics for at least the last 50 years of that life! You have had me reflecting the whole day about my comic journey and what brought me to the point I am at now and I just had to share! I was always a SciFi nerd and grew up on and loving the works of Asimov and the other past giants of the genre. Great, but they painted with words. You had to fill in the story with the pictures of your imagination. Then I discovered comics where it was the complete opposite and the story that was driven by the pictures! My ideas now were shaped not just by my imagination of what a spaceship looked like but what OTHERS also imagined they looked like through the brilliance of their art work laid out on the new galaxies of the page. My first was .... The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire drawn by Don Lawrence. The serialized story appeared in a (weekly?) British newspaper publication that I had to go every week to find in my public library! Don't ask me to tell you what the story was really about as told ny the words in the bubbles as only today in researching did I discover who the artist was and the back story of the characters! It was truly the pictures of the rockets that got me hooked! And the rest was history. My next few years after 11 or 12 were filled with Harvey comics. Casper and Richie Rich and Archie and then I entered the world of Marvel. (And DC). The Fantastic Four and Dr. Doom. The Silver Surfer and the world ending hunger of Galactus and the genius of Reed Richards to stop him with the Ultimate Nullifier!!!! Then it was .... The X men. Who needs cocaine? Comics were always my drugs! I see myself as a cross between my two favorite heroes. Silver Surfer and Wolverine. One represents the nobility of man to soar and reach the stars while the other is the nobility of the savage beast and the drive and will to survive no matter what life throws at you. Thanks for the memories, more stories for another day.😃 Regards Cyprian Cyprian

It's hard for me to pinpoint my first comic since my dad surrounded me with superhero stuff when I was a kid. I think the first comic I actually read was the original Secret Wars, which my dad and I read together before I'd go to bed as a kid. I already loved the characters from the movies and cartoons, so seeing them do these amazing things in this old story was breathtaking for me. Other stories I remember loving back then were Ultimate X-men (gifts from my aunt), Bone (bought from book fairs), and Spider-Girl (borrowed from library). It wasn't until I was in around 11th grade when I started reading comics regularly as well as taking part in the comic community. KZfaq channels like this is what keeps me wanting to read more because there's so much to read and enjoy.

Ok, this is a few years late but knowing your love of the Silver Age, I think you can appreciate it. The first comics I recall receiving were a bit off the wall, for my 3/4 year old mind. They were the Fantastic Four Book and Record Set (1974 Power Records) and Superman vs Spider-Man in a king size format. However, I wasn’t bitten by the collecting bug until later. Despite growing up in the Bronze Age, it was the Silver Age that got me. First there was, I think, Marvel Super Action 16 that reprinted part of the Avengers Annual where Cap, Hawkeye, Black Panther and such travel in time to fight the original Avengers who had wiped out all the other heroes. Then there were the Amazing Adventures reprints of the first X-Men stories and Marvel Tales right when they started reprinting Spider-Man. At the time I had no idea they were reprints from nearly 20 years prior nor that I had to wait a month for the next issue. They were fruit to be plucked from the newsstand when I wanted them. Coming off of the relative innocence of the Silver Age stories, my search for the X-men stories resulted sadly but fortuitously in The Uncanny X-Men #138. Jean was dead?! Omg! Cue crying. I was a comic fan out of time. But it was an issue that also provided a refresher course in X-men history. Then all of the X-men were dead three issues later in X-Men #141 and I had no idea what the hell was happening. I had to get all of these new X-men stories and, eventually, I did. In this period, I also stumbled upon the glorious hot mess that was Avengers 200 and saw and read things not meant for a child’s eyes. Regardless, with Claremont doing the X-men at Marvel and Wolfman and Perez doing the Teen Titans at DC it was a fine time to be a young comics fan.

My first comic... Peter Porker the Spectacular SpiderHam... The first book I collected. In hindsight.... After I collected most of it... I fell out of comics until years later when I started collecting the 1980s guide to the Marvel Universe.

I got started because of my dad too! He was a little...more obsessed lol. My dad used to work at a comic shop and has an otherworldly obsession with Superman. I was forced upon so much of the media of him growing up, and I was drawn to DC heroes much more because of him. My first comic that I can remember holding was one my dad held out, asking me if I wanted to read a spooky story. (My dad like yours didn't know a filter on what I watched. I watched all the Alien movies because of him, Species wasn't until much later) It was a Tales from the Crypt that he carefully peeled back from the clear cover and showed me how to read without hurting the comic itself. I barely remember the story, but I remember that was the first time dad trusted me with his comic books. From then on, he began opening his boxes of comics from various places in the house and started teaching me lore of DC heroes. It never really sank in completely, not until I bought my own. My first comic I bought with my own money was a large bundle. A customer at the Walmart I was working at saw me dressed in various Batman merch and approached me, asking if I would buy his comics. He was down on his luck and needed some money to get home so I gave him about 30 bucks and he gave me a large cardboard box of comic books. They were of all sorts of things from Superman to Transformers to Jay and Silent Bob. I sorted through what I wanted and sold off the rest to a comic shop my dad knew. Since then, I decided to give myself more of a range and pick up anything that catched my interest because I finally realized there wasn't just DC and Marvel. There was a whole buttload of stories I could find out about. Thank you for sharing your story Sasha, it really helped me remember why I love comics like you.

I was born and raised on a small farm in Kansas and from an early age, I saw these books in the grocery store that featured superheroes. I watched Superfriends on Saturday morning which had Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman & Robin, Flash, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Hawkman, Black Lightning, Apache Chief, The Atom, Elastic Man and many more. I loved those stories, but didn't start actually reading & collecting the comic books until I was in my late teens. (16-17). I loved them all so much. I bought certain titles each week or each month, depending on when new ones came out. I still have all of them. Over 3000 books. Luckily I stopped collecting them when the stories began to fall flat. I felt like I could write better story lines and then 20 years later I did. I wrote my first book a few years ago and called it "Kindred Lives." A story based around Jason Todd. Now I'm in the middle of a prequel to that book called "Beyond Her". So far I've written 135 pages. I'd like to hope that my books will inspire other people to read comics and see where all my inspiration comes from.

'Entertainment this month' was how I got comics because I had money but no way to get to a comic store. Superman's death by Doomsday's hand, Cyberforce, and X-Men 2099 was where I started.

I learned to read by the time I was in 1st grade. And could read beyond the level of the readers available at that time. What got me started on comics is that we visited my grandparent's a few times a month, and there was a store where I could buy comics near by. I'd bum whatever money I could from the adults, and with the price of comics at that time, I could buy a half-dozen or more. At first it was just fun reading the stories and admiring the artwork. Soon enough I realized some of the stories were serialized and started following those. As I approached adolescence I got a job, and that gave me the money to buy what comics I wanted when I wanted. As an adult I kept reading and collecting. I enjoy the stories and the art. I've developed an appreciation for different writers and artists. I'm not sure what the "one long box rule" is, but I'm pretty sure I've broken it. I have just over 100 short boxes. And continue adding more and more and more comics. Almost forgot... The first comic book I read on my own was Ghostly Tales 91. The cover art work caught my attention, and the story was... interesting.

This first comic books I read were comic adaption of animated cartoons. These included Mickey Mouse and Uncle Scrooge published by Gold Key/Whitman, Bugs Bunny at Dell/Western Publishing, and so on. These usually read in waiting areas or were gifts bought to me to read when I was sick. It was my older brother that actually started buying comics on a monthly basis in 1984. Kenner had just produced a series of toys based on the Super Friends animated television series. Mattel did not want to be left out of the race, so they went to Marvel Comics. They made a request Marvel to create a book to go along with the toy line that had all the characters in it. Thus was the birth of the first event crossover called Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars. I knew of Spider-man from his cartoon on TV, but this introduced me to the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, and the Hulk. I was hooked. My brother continued buying comics like X-Men and Spider-man. I spent my allowance on Marvel Tails Starring Peter Porker the Spectacular Spider-Ham. Then when my brother went off to college, I started buying all sorts Marvel comics on my own. I could go on about how Image Comics changed everything, I started reading various indy comics, and non-superhero comics, but I guess that is a story for another day.

The first comic I bought was Essential X Men 36, but my introduction to them (Not counting TV/movies/games/toys etc) was a reprint of the Star Wars: Dark Times and KotoR arcs by Dark Horse in a Star Wars magazine where I think the biggest draw for me was the cheap toy included.

As a toddler ( I possess extreme long term recall) I was hooked on the Filmation cartoons of the 60s. From there, my mother took a job, so I had to go to daycare, where I met my best friend, who said to me, "I like Batman. " To which I replied, "I like Superman. " The rest is history. Not quite a year later, my dad took me to the local newsstand where I saw comics for the first time. The cover sported two Supermen. One was Clark tearing his shirt open, only to spot another Man of Steel lifting a car and shaking out presumably criminals. Clark thinks, "If that's Superman, then who am I?" It was the introduction of Gregory Reed, an actor who played Superman in the movies. His jealousy of the real Superman caused him to resort to black magic to steal his powers. Action Comics, indeed!

Thank you for sharing your comic origin story!! My first comics were Legion of Super Heroes (vol 1) #3 and #4 (1973) which were reprints of Adventure Comics 340 & 341. An entire group of teen age superheroes all with different powers enthralled this 9 year old! Plus one of the members actually died (Triplicate Girl losing one of her 3 bodies) and they had funeral services for her. Having read the two of them over and over, my next comic was Superboy (vol. 1) #198 where now the Legion members were older and had new costumes and I learned that my first two comics were really old stories. I was HOOKED!

I was reading comics just as soon as I learned to read around the age of 4 or 5; this would be about 1973 or 1974. My first comics were a Spider-Man comic featuring the Prowler and an issue of the Avengers featuring the return of Wonder Man. I really didn't understand the latter comic as I was way too young. I didn't understand things like "characters being drawn smaller because they're in the background does not mean that the characters are actually smaller". I think I was confused because both Wasp and Yellowjacket had shrinking powers, so I was unclear on whether or not ALL of the Avengers had shrinking powers, since they kept being drawn smaller (because they were further away). And I wasn't too impressed by the return of a character I had never seen before. And that was my start. This was quickly followed by a bunch of DC comics and Harvey comics and more Marvel comics and, well, pretty much everything else. I never collected horror comics because those were the comics that my older sister collected... but I did get to read them all until she finally gave them away to her boyfriend years later.

How I got into comics was after experiencing being bullied, no self esteem, and trying to live up to peoples standards. I read comics for heroes to look up to. Heroes and villains that I related too. escapism from reality. 90's comics is where the magic began for me even though I read a lot of older comics too at that time.

My favourite character is Shayera Hol/Hawkgirl. I loved her in the DCAU Justice League/Unlimited and she remains one of my favourite characters to this day. The first comic I bought and read was Supreme Blue Rose #1 from Image Comics from this comic book store in Brisbane. I remember loving the art and story and collecting all 7 issues each week by ordering them from their website and eventually the bind up. Image then has been a staple of my comic reading from Snotgirl to Monstress. Recently with the new run of Miss Marvel/Kamala Khan and Miles Morales Spiderman I've begun dipping my toes in more Marvel Stuff. I always look forward to buying new comics when I can.

First got interested in comics because my older brother was a fan and from all the fantastic cartoons. Got even more interested when I joined my brother's DnD group and everyone would talk about what was happening in industry. This led me to visiting my local game store. Usually just bought dice and RPG books, but ended up browsing around the comic section more and more. If memory serves I believe the first comic I bought was a TPB I bought on a whim because the cover art caught my eye and the story sounded interesting, it was Joe Benitez's Wraithborn. Still have tucked away on my shelf as well as the expanded rerelease he put out years later, that one I actually bought directly from him at Comic Con. Fun times.

I think the first comic I ever read was a Batman comic by Denny O'Neil and Neil Adams. It showed him working alongside Ra's al Ghul, whom I took to be Batman's boss. My earliest Superman comic had two stories, and the second had Superman meeting Captain Thunder, who was like an Earth-1 version of Captain Marvel. My father had already been into comics before me, and I got to read through his collection of early Dr. Strange and Defenders comics. Since my parents ran a used bookstore, and it carried used comics, I was able to read many brands of comics, including DC, Marvel, Archie, and Harvey. I particularly gravitated to the JSA/JLA team-ups that came out each summer. I also had a subscription to Shazam. During the 80s, I got into some independent titles, particularly Zot and Miracle Man. In the 90s, comics grew more expensive, and I could no longer find a comic book store that would save the titles I wanted each month. So, I gave up on buying comics. From time to time, I still read some comics, and even when I wasn't buying comics, I still followed TV shows and movies about comic book characters. These days, I am reading manga more than comic books. I got fed up with DC changing their universe too frequently, and I decided I wanted self-contained stories that didn't tie into a bunch of other titles and wouldn't be made non-canon through some crisis event that would change the fabric of reality for the nth time. Also, I'm mainly reading them on an ereader, which better suits the black and white format of manga. I may start reading color comics more when I can get a large color eink device.

I don't recall what my first comic book was. I remember reading lots of random stuff at a young age. Batman, Superman, X-Men, Dark Horse Star Wars comics and whatever else I could get my hands on. I grew up in the 90s and my mom used to take me shopping with her to a local grocery store that had an impressive comic selection. I have very fond memories of browsing and flipping through whatever comic had the most enticing cover that week. I've been a comic fan for most of my life. Also, I've just recently discovered your channel and have really been enjoying it. Thanks for the videos!

My start onto liking comics was the animated shows like X-men But what really got me interested was the channels that explained comic series like yours and super effective. My first comic book was raven daughter of darkness

I was 5 years old in 1961 and obsessed with the Superman TV show starring George Reeves when my mother taught me the most rudimentary reading skills using Superman comics. I preferred Curt Swan's pencils but could also recognize the art styles of Wayne Boring and Kurt Schaffenberger. I didn't know George Reeves had died until a few years later, and often wondered why the comic book Superman didn't look more like him. In 1965 my cousins who shunned Superman introduced me to my first Marvel comic books.

My dad told me bed time stories based on the comics he had read, one of the last stories he told me was essentially the origins of Captain America, Steve Rogers, he ended the stories after I think a week of telling me them with Bucky's passing on the plane. Alot of the characters I was told about would get cartoons, live actions shows or movies. Like Spiderman and Daredevil. But never Captain America to my knowledge at that time. We never had comics in the house but we did tape cartoons. Years later Brubaker's run on Captain America would bring Bucky back as Winter Soldier, I discovered this in a local book store where I would read comics. I couldn't afford them so I would just memorize the story and tell my dad. I remember running home and telling him Bucky was back but had lost his memory. My dad was surprised because Bucky had been dead for like forever in terms of publication history so it was a nice table flip when I was the one telling him stories. But what really did it was was The First Avenger movie, we went to see it and we teared up a few times when we saw iconic shield tossing on the big screen for the first time. I remember my dad acting out alot of these poses for Cap so I cried like a baby when I saw it in the movie during the montage scene. My dad and I basically vowed to see every MCU movie featuring Steve and Bucky after that. Seeing those moments in screen that was I told as a bed time story was truly life changing.

I started in Peru, when I was 12. There was this massive boom in anime on the TV with dragon ball and sailor moon, which led to anime clubs and fanzines being formed. At this meetings the club would sell mangas and comics but I had no money. About a year and a half later I migrated to Australia and there were about 6 comic book stores at the time in Sydney alone. I went in there looking for manga not really knowing what I would find. What I found was English version of Shadow Lady by Masakazu Katsura published by Dark Horse, which I had read about on the fanzines. This was 1999 and the first X-men came out. I was buying tankoubons how many series for the next couple of years, picking up I''s, GTO, Detective Conan, Gunsmith Cats. By the time the first Spiderman movie came out I picked up my first graphic novel: Ultimate Spiderman. Loved the art, love the characters. I collected most of the Ultimate Marvel except Ultimate Fantastic 4 and Ultimatum (dodged a bullet there). Started buying singles afterwards.

First comic I read was The Beano in the UK (in the 1990s). Think extremely fragile larger than A4 paper, about 30 pages but the majority of stories were one page wacky "gag" stories which revolved around an appealing personality trait or gimmick. So you had Roger the Dodger coming up with convoluted ways to dodge homework, the Numskulls (inside out, but more about senses than emotions) and Dennis the Menace (who looks much different than the American Dennis - he had a hairdo and attitude similar to the Tasmanian Devil or Sonic). Weird stuff, but enjoyable, as continuity never really mattered!

My comic story begins when I was a small child, to be honest I have no idea of my age at the time, and I loved reading. One of my favourite pass times was reading with my dad, who made it his goal to introduce to me various things he loved though this reading time. I can remember him reading me a novel (written book not comic book) about Batman, reading me children book adoptions featuring various heroes. I remember loving the spiderman ones, as I was watching reruns of the 80s show, and watching the 90s show at the time. In short I always was aware of superheroes, what with my dad putting on the movies/shows and reading me the actual comics. Like you though I didn't really fall head first into it until I was in university, and met some fellow nerds who convinced me to try buying my own comic. Seeing as Superman was, and still is my favourite hero, I picked up a couple couples with him on the cover. I also remember mostly getting marvel comics, as I believe this was around the mcu was starting and I knew of these characters from seeing Iron Man, and knowing of plans for future films. I picked mostly cap books for marvel, mainly from the bits I read about his character online. The biggest buy I got though was a Superman trade: All Star Superman, the comic I knewn about because of a famoue panel I had a very personal connection to. I went home and read all star, and I fell hard in love with both Clark and comics. I been in the fandom every day since.

@Casually Comics - in 1953 I was born into a black and white television show called Superman. It was not a huge leap to the comic book and when I was six I was afraid of Batman. Well done. You are funny as heck in that British way. Superman showed me how to live if I had the courage. Remember the ninety-zillion times he lost his "powers" and found his inner strength? That is a hero. My brother always seemed to have ten (then twelve) cents for the comics. Ahh the fifties. George Reeves rocks.

My best friend’s little brother brought me a garbage bag full of comic books when I was sick from school in the fifth grade. I fell in love with all the different series. There was Spider-Man, Cloak and Dagger, Justice League, Swamp Thing, and Batman. Just anything and everything, he read it all. I returned them in a card box, alphabetized and lovingly smoothed out. Soon after I started my own collection. Unfortunately, my boys were more into sports and didn’t appreciate their mom’s taste in reading. Love that I found your channel.

I got into comics through the BTAS Justice League and then I listened to way to many comic book channels on yt, Atop the Fourth Wall, Comic POP, Comic Drake, and now your channel. I was sort of a part of the comic book Fandom but I was mostly lurking picking up stuff here and there. About a year ago I started getting seriously into comics mostly DC and I finally feel like I can actually hold a conversation with other comic book fans without feeling like a fake and it is so great.

Dear Sasha! Comic Books have a special place in my heart. I was a strange child. Almost completely silent from birth. My worried parents took me to specialists. Then one day at the age of Three I started speaking in entire sentences. Shortly thereafter I was at the shops with my Mother & saw something which entranced me. It was the picture of a man wearing a mask, dressed in Black, White, & Green, flying against a background of stars. It was my first sighting of a Comic Book & I begged my Mother to buy it for me. At home the pictures on the pages fascinated me but the big white Bubbles with black markings inside puzzled. I asked my Mother & she explained these were the WORDS the man was saying. The Light Bulb turned ON! I asked about the other Bubbles, shaped like Clouds. My Mother explained these were the THOUGHTS the Man was having. MIND BLOWN to Stratospheric & beyond! I HAD to KNOW! I pestered my Mother every waking moment of every day to teach me how to READ. Bless her Sweet Heart. She Did. So that is how I learned to read at the age of Three from a GREEN LANTERN Comic Book. By the age of Four DC Comics were striking me as a bit banal but then I spotted THE UNCANNY X-MEN first issue. An addiction commenced. When I went to Public School at the age of 5 & none of the other kids could read I Panicked. I Honestly thought I'd been sent to the Shortbus School by mistake. This was Australia in the early 60's so years of Alienation followed as I became known as THE KID WHO READS BOOKS. Not kidding. They Really called me that. What are you going to do ay? love Steve Holliday

Hey Sasha, love this channel! Thanks for sharing your story. I have a couple of touchpoints that got me into comics. First, i watched the Batman tv show in syndication, and The Adventures of Superman as well, as a little kid. The first conic i remember reading is Fantastic Four #186, at my friend's summer cabin. His family had that issue, and a Captain America issue (whose number i don't remember, but i know it had the Falcon, and the male villain Moonstone) and i read both of them several times each year my family went up. Also, during the summer when i visited Montana, i found a Justice League of America #207, which had a crossover between the JLA and the JSA, along with the All-Star Squadron! I looked for several years to find all 5 parts of that story, as it alternated between JLA 207-209, and All- Star Squadron 14-15. It was such a mind blowing experience to see all those heroes together, and has fueled my love of the multiple earths of DC, to this very day. In Jr High, at age 12, my friends asked me if i wanted them to buy me any comics at the only local store. I had never bought a comic before, except that one JLA, so i didn't know what to get. My friends showed me the Diamond catalog, and what they were going to buy. I ended up getting Alpha Flight 24, and X-men 193 (the 100th appearance of the All- New, All- Different X- men. Pretty good first couple of issues! As for my very 1st conic, the FF 186, i have it right here. My original is in pretty bad shape, but i bought a replacement copy. I even got it signed by the artist when he came to the store i had worked at. On the cover, where the FF are fighting "Salem's Seven", in black pen, it says, "To Dan - Best, GEORGE PEREZ"! Thanks for listening to my stories. Now, a question for you. With your love of comics, do you have any aspirations to get into the industry? If so, what areas are you interested in? If not, what changes would you like to see made in comics? Thanks!

So my VERY first omic book was bought at about 7 or 8 - an Amazing Spirder-Man where they rprinted his origin story. I held on to it, but we had virtually no money after my parents divorced. So then when I was 12 (1982), my middle school had a magazine selling fundraiser for some reason or other. One of the offered magazines was subscriptions to various Marvel comics. I chose 2, Amazing Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian, because they were the 2 characters I knew the most about. From that point on, I was utterly hooked. By high school, virtually every dollar I had went to buying titles. However, I didn't get to visit an actual comic book store until I was well into college.

Being 34, my years with comics have been varied. By the time I could walk and considering I was the baby of 3 kids plus having an older brother who was into this world already, I couldn't help but plunge into it. As for first comic, that's a tough one to track because I was between 3 or 4 and the main comics I seen around me were between Batman, Spider Man ( there's your answer to my top favorite super heroes in that order but my name is also the clue to that question) and the X-Men. But I couldn't read or comprehend worth a damn but when you had art from Jim Lee, Todd McFarlane and Norm Breyfogle as artist plus I was an aspiring artist, so I wasn't worried about that. Thanks to Zelda ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, and Wizard magazine I was able to learn comprehension and along the way as well as some funds I could spend for myself so I started getting deeper into comics. My first trades I bought with my own money was officially The return of Superman and marvel vs DC but they weren't strong enough to begin my collection. Astonishing X-Men (Joss Whedon run) and Batman Hush was. Since then I continued to collect but my collection doesn't match yours. I'm still trying to create a library but for now I am both Happy and depressed with what I have. I've been a fan of yours even in your shippers guide page as well as when you do your top tens. The fact that you are doing this makes me as a fan very happy. I'm hoping you get more subscribers because you deserve all the love and support. I am now an aspiring writer. Reviewer and blogger to be exact. Hopefully I'll start making YT videos but I've been saying that for far too long. I'm just saying I've been a fan of yours for a long while and appreciate the work you put in your videos. Thank you for your contribution.

The first comic I remember I found in my closet in my bedroom that used to be my sister's bedroom. I have no idea where it came from seeing as at this point no one in the house was into comics. It was a Spiderman comic that gust starred Dazzler in her disco style outfit. First comic book crush. All I remember about the story was that she was being chased by someone and Spidey helped her out. Jump ahead many years and I'm buying comics irregularly at Thrifty and Sav-on, now known as Rite-Aid and CVS, respectively. Finally I hit High School and meet many like minded friends about the super hero genre. In other words I met a bunch of fellow comic book geeks. They start telling me stories about a new flash story where the Flash dies. This is when I look through some of the comics I have and find a comic book store. It's not local and my mom has to drive at least half an hour through 2 other cities to get to. I walked in and had found my Valhalla. This was the early 90s. I picked up the flash comic I was interested in but other comics caught my eye. Specifically this limited series. You may have heard of it. Crisis on Infinite Earths. A comic run from 1985 had me hooked. And though they had all the back issues, I didn't have the money to buy it all at once. So even years after its original run, I had to collect it month by month. And that's my story.

The first story I read was a mini punisher story as a kid. I was actually terrified of the punisher at an early age lol. The first comic I owned was an x-men story from the school book fair in elementary school. When I got to college, a friend bought me battle for the cowl. And when dc rebirth kicked off I started my collection with batman, suicide squad and green arrow to start. Then Philly had a new comic shop, Amalgam, opened up and I started collecting single issues. Fast forward to today I now have an entire book case that's filled with marvel, dc, image, hellboy, & indie books.

My introduction into the world of the comic book super hero was the Filmation cartoons of the sixties. I was a toddler and watched them with great fascination. I gravitated towards Superman because of his invulnerability. I thought how cool it would be if I couldn't be hurt. Then when I was four I met my best friend. The conversation went something like, " I like Superman. " "I like Batman." The rest was history. By the time I was five, I was watching Sesame Street and The Electric Company, so I had a modestly functional command of "words that stay". Then, my dad took me to a newsstand, where I saw a magazine with my hero on the cover. It was an issue of Action Comics with Clark in an alley, pulling his shirt open while watching Superman lifting a carload of crooks in the street. With an expression of shock on his face, Clark thinks, "Wait a minute, if that's Superman, then who am I?!" I begged my dad to buy it for me. He dug in his pocket and gave me the twenty cents to buy it myself like a big boy. So began my journey. Ad an aside, a year or so later, the Board of Education called my parents to scold them for teaching me to read. They had nothing to do with it. My reading scores blew the curve of other students' reading development, because I was reading comics voraciously.

You want the story morning glory? Well here's my tale nightingale...I was aware of Super-Heroes from cartoons like The Super Friends and Spider-man and His Amazing Friends (a lot of cartoons with the word "Friends" in the title in the 80s I guess), and reruns of the old Adam West Batman and George Reeves Superman show, as well as the Christopher Reeve Superman films. The first comic I bought was the comic adaptation of Return of the Jedi about a week before the movie came out. I had walked into the corner store with my sister and cousin and I was talking about how much I couldn't wait for the movie to come out, and the guy at the counter said, "You know, I'm not supposed to sell these yet, but I have the comic adaptation if you want to buy it." I didn't really buy comics regularly until I was in college. I had heard that Clark Kent and Lois Lane were getting married so I picked the issues from around then and became hooked. And that's the word hummingbird.

I started reading comics around 1985, when I was 7ish. I enjoyed reading, and the characters were really fun. I started buying Spidey & X-Men comics, and the number of characters that I was interested in grew. I started doing any odd job I could find in order to earn money so I could follow the various stories. It got to the point where I was reading upwards of 60 stories every month (I was working a whole lot, and the average cover price was 75 cents to a dollar). I stopped collecting monthly titles around 1994-1995, and started buying TPBs in 1998 to read entire stories without having to hunt down individual issues. It's a lot more convenient nowadays to find what I'm looking to read, but I still fondly remember waiting in line at local comic shops to get the issues that I had been anticipating getting my hands on...lol

I know writing my story is a bit late, but here i am (because i decided to watch the older videos in this channel): I grew up on the animated marvel tv shows (90's spiderman, ironman, xmen and fantastic four) and i was just hooked! I loved them so much that i kept watching almost every new marvel show that was released. And when my father showed me iron man, i was amazed! The chracter i saw as a cartoon was in real life, in a movie, with amazing story and effects and everything! So i became addicted to the mcu and when i finished high school i decided that i want to really know the characters, because i knew that in every show/movie they act different and it's hard understanding the core character from really different interpatations. So i started doing my research on how to start reading comics but i got so many different answers that i just decided to start from the very beggining. I looked up marvel first superhero comic (because they did alot of other ones like horror and such), and tried the first captain america comic book from 1941... and it was boring! Really boring!!! (I never was into captain america before) But i knew comic is divided into ages, and that the 40s were the "golden age". So i decided to skip to the next age, maybe the "silver age" in the 60s was better. So i started with fantastic four #1 in 1961, and it was much better! And after a few issues i recognized that the plots are the same as the ones in the 90s show, and i felt very nostalgic to it. So i continued to read and added spiderman and avengers and antman and every other marvel superhero comic from the silver age and almost every comic from the bronze age. And ever since i am hooked! Sorry for the very long story, but it was fun writing it.

My first introduction into comics outside of 90s cartoons (X-Men, Spider-Man, and Batman) was the Death of Superman arc. I remember picking it up at a newspaper store and despite it being about six years after its release, I just remember the art and the hype I felt reading it as a ten year old. I was immediately entertained and I never forgot it. Now twenty years later, I still remember from the way Doomsday looked to Superman's post-death mullet. I even remember that one of my copies had an ad for that god-awful live action Super Mario Bros film on the back page.

my dad would buy comics to read and then give to me. starting at age 4, I looked at Hulk, Thor, Defenders, and many other Marvel comics. when I was able to choose my own comics, I opted for Jungle Action featuring The Black Panther. I drifted away from comics for a while until Love & Rockets and Yummy Fur brought me back.

I’d read a few comics as a kid - Batman, Spider-Man, Masters of the Universe - but the first comic I personally bought wasn’t till I was in college - Todd McFarlane’s “Spider-Man #1. Spidey had always been my favorite superhero because I related so much to Peter and when I saw that issue, I grabbed it. After that, I was hooked and got everything Spider-Man that I could. I even hunted for older issues and eventually had a pretty impressive collection. I also got into a few other comics, but Spidey was the main one. I’ve since stopped collecting - it got too expensive and I had nowhere else to put my books, but it’s always tempting to start again. 😊 And thanks for all your videos! I love your enthusiasm for comic books and it’s nice to see a smart and cute girl love nerdy things as much as I do. 😊 Stay safe during this weird time we’re in!

First, before I get into my story about how I got into comics...let me start by telling you how I found your channel. There's an independent comic creator on KZfaq who started a server on the Discord app for other independent comic creators. One day another person shared one of your videos. I try to check out everything people post about so I watched your video and now I'm hooked! Thanks for making these videos. So, onto my tale of how I got into comics. I've been drawing since I was old enough to hold a pencil. One day I went to a neighbors house whose son used to draw comic book characters and put them up on his wall. I was fascinated. I had to try this myself. Now I was already aware of comics and superheroes. But I really only got to see them on TV. I watched the original Spiderman TV series. I also watched Super Friends on Saturday mornings. I had friends who had a few comics lying around. I asked to borrow one from another neighborhood friend so I could find a picture to draw. He let me borrow one that had Black Panther in it. So I decided to create my own scene where Black Panther was sneaking into a bedroom window. I wish I still had that image but it's long gone now. But a few years later and we'd moved from Louisville, KY to Canton, MI (a suburb of Detroit). And there I met my best friend Lance. (We're still in touch.) He and I were a couple of years apart. But we both liked sci-fi stuff, cartoons, comics, superheroes etc. Plus, he was an artist too. But he was also an avid reader and thusly a good story teller. So we started drawing in my basement pretty regularly. We'd spend hours creating our own characters and stories. We of course collected the real comics as well. I eventually moved away to Texas and only saw him one other time after that when he flew down for a visit. But that dream never died. After high school I joined the Army. Earned college money and went to the Art Institute of Dallas. Got my degree and put together a portfolio to get a job. By the time I graduated my wife at the time wanted to go to NYC to see if I could get work there as she really wanted to move back there. So we went. I even interviewed at Marvel Comics. I bombed it. But I got to have an hour and forty-five minute conversation with Tom DeFalco. He was the editor by this time...in 1994, just a couple of weeks after Jack Kirby had passed. Anyway, I went on to have a career here in the Dallas/Fort Worth area for the last 25+ years. The dream was still alive though. So last year I wrote my first script. Did some renderings of the characters. Then in January I started my journey. I spent 3 months creating a 22 page comic...which hasn't published yet. I'm waiting until after this crisis is over. But I've started on another story with all new characters. So I am finally living the dream of being a comic creator. I have a few comics. A Buffy the Vampire Slayer collection and Angel and Spike comics. I also have the first 12 of the original Micronauts series by Marvel. I also have digital comics and some stuff by some of my Indy comic friends. Anyway, that's my story. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I've enjoyed your channel!

My family used to get Archie comics or Richie Rich in digest form, and when everybody had read them, we threw them away. Sometimes we'd get those packs of comics bundled with their covers cut off. When a super hero comic was in one of those bundles it was always vexing because they always started and ended in the middle of a story, unlike the Archie or Harvey comics which were all just one-shots. One day at an El train station, I saw the Web of Spider-Man Annual #1 with a picture of black costume Spider-Man fighting a robot (as it turns out, a guy in a mech suit) on a rooftop. The image was so cool that I bought it without hesitation. That was the first comic I collected for keeps. This was around the time that they were publishing Marvel Tales and X-Men Classics, so I was able to familiarize myself with the back stories of both Spider-Man and the X-Men. Now, a kid could just read websites or watch KZfaq to get caught up on a comic series. Back then, you just had reprints, and these enabled me to jump into the hobby.

Don't know if I've ever written this on this channel (I think I found this channel recently but some of the content is familiar), but I got REALLY into comics thanks to that scene from the X-Men animated series where the Phoenix is unleashed and Spiderman, Daredevil and Thor all react. That scene of Thor channeling his lightning as he senses all nature going insane blew my mind. I thought "Who is this crazy strong weather mutant who looks way more powerful than Storm?" then I realized Spiderman was swinging by earlier on and it all clicked. I became obsessed with learning everything I could about this bigger world of characters and stories. The thought that there where so many stories like the one I was currently enamoured with just hiding out there flipped some kind of switch in my young brain that I've never been able to switch off. I'd seen the other animated series and even had a few comics given to me by other people but after that moment I really got my full nerd on.

This was a cool question to have asked because it gave me a chance to reminisce and ask myself how I first got introduced to comics. I was also around 10 years old, though this was around 1990. I think it was actually a friend at school who first mentioned then to me, but what I vividly recall is that my mom used to take me to the library once a week or so and at one point suggested that I check out the comic books to see what I'd like the. I remember grabbing some issues of Fantastic Four, The Beyonder, X-Men and others. I'd get whatever caught my attention at the time, mostly based on the art. There was a bit of a gap after that, then my best friend in high school reintroduced me to X-Men, which was in the Apocalypse saga! I've occasionally enjoyed some Batman comics and Green Lantern over the years, but mainly it's been Marvel: X-Men, Spiderman, Wolverine, Hulk, etc.

I'm an 80s baby with 2 college educated parents. And they introduced me to the library and books. Which in turn introduced me to comic books, science fiction and fantasy novels. My dads first comic books were the classic DC superheroes Batman and Superman, Justice League and the Teen Titans. I engulfed and absorbed them all. Then somewhere around 10 or so I bought my first Marvel comics with my allowance. Spider-Man and the X-Men, IronMan and Dr. Strange, the incredible Hulk and various other comic books I had a subscription to them all. 30 years later I still collect them, sold some, traded some, lost some. But my love of comic is eternal.

When I was 5 I was home sick from Kindergarten. My mom flipped the TV to a rerun of the Linda Carter Wonder Woman TV series and I was immediately hooked. I was obsessed with the idea of a strong female super hero who not only didn’t need a man to save her, but did the saving herself. When I wouldn’t stop talking about it my mom bought me my first George Perez Wonder Woman comic and I’ve been obsessed ever since. While I soon branched our to other JLA members (became obsessed with Huntress and Raven) and eventually Marvel, Wonder Woman will always remain my favorite.

I got into comics around 2009 when I was in community college. I remember seeing the trailer for the Watchmen movie and how people were going crazy about it. I was curious, so I went online and purchased a copy of the trade paperback and read it before the movie came out. I was so sucked in that I had to pick up more stories. Suddenly I was reading Death of Superman, V for Vendetta, 300, Geoff Johns’ Green Lantern, George Perez’s Wonder Woman, the list goes on. Now I have a Green Lantern tattoo, a closet full of comic shirts, and shelves full of figures. Lots and lots of figures. My only regret is that I didn’t get into it sooner.

I can't truly remember which was my first comic. It was either an X-Men comic or it was Batman: Hush. Hush was definitely the most influential one that started me on the path of becoming an invested comic book fan. It kickstarted my love of the Batfamily and Dick Grayson, in particular. My Dad has always had a comic book collection and I started off reading the comics he would leave in the bathroom (which means that Batman probably was my first comic book, since Dad is primarily a Batman fan). Now my comic book collection rivals his, although mine too has moved mostly to digital so that I can read more and more characters. So happy that digital comics are a thing!

My first comic was the trade of Infinite Crisis. My dad and I were at the airport, I'm pretty sure we were visiting family in Wisconsin, and we stopped in the airport's gift shop so that I could get something to read on the plane. Since I was in elementary school at the time and my only exposure to super heroes at the time was the DCAU and, maybe, the X-Men cartoons, the only thing there that grabbed my attention was the comic with Superman and Batman on the cover. I spent the flight reading it and I was hooked. While I'm more of a Marvel fan than a DC fan now, that comic has a special place in my heart as my first comic.

When I was younger, and even now since I'm a teenager, I loved DC superhero shows. Or superhero shows in general. I loved the reruns of Justice League/JLU and Static Shock. I grew up with Ben 10 as my favourite superhero, meaning I also grew up with all the comic superhero shows like Super Hero Squad, Batman Brave and the Bold, Green Lantern, Teen Titans and, of course, Young Justice. I remember the excitement and joy I got from watching all of these shows, and loving Earth's Mightiest Heroes too! And at when there was a book sale at my school I remember getting this Ben 10 comic with the plumber's helpers and being super excited about! (Sucks I lost it a while back). Because of my love for these shows, I made my own superheroes and would revamp my ideas every now then based on new media I saw. I don't know why, but seeing Captain Marvel/ Shazam in anything made me so hyped! At some point I remember going to Barnes and Noble and being able to get whatever books I wanted. I got the New 52 Shazam origin book and kind of hated his portal because it wasn't like the tv shows I saw. I still loved the book because it was Shazam though, and I started exploring the internet about Shazam and superheroes I liked, including watch jojo, top 10 nerd, comicstorian, comic tropes, and at4w, and just getting super fascinated in the lore of it all: mainly DC, but not adverse to marvel characters I knew. By my freshman year, I would usually ask my parents for trades for Christmas (usually ones I had read on readcomicsonline) because I didn't know where or if I lived near a comic shop. I searched one day, headed for the mall, but my genius self thought it would be outside. Then, for Christmas of sophomore year, my mom had gotten me the first Shazam comic of the 2018 series and I got really excited because I could go to a comic book shop. I eventually got to go there myself and it was kind of a letdown as an experience. The comics were all there, but I didn't feel seen in the shop. The cashier was talking to some guy, and I felt like I was interrupting then when I was just trying to buy Green Arrow #41 and something else. It was a bit disheartening because I had watched so many videos that either mentioned or explained the fall of the comics industry and I wanted to do my part and legally support, but I felt like an outsider. But I didn't give up. I eventually found the comic shop near my house one Wednesday after school and was super excited! The cashier was dry, but I was just hyped to collect all the issue of the current Shazam series (especially after the movie made me love every member of the new family way more), Miles Morales: Spider-Man #5 (because of Spider-verse), Hawkman (because of reviewers) and the Terrifics because I had the entire series online up to that point and wanted to really support. When I paid, the prices were up from the cover price for some reason, I don't know, but didn't like. But I loved that I truly supported for once. However, as I kept coming back, the arbitrary prices felt off, and the fact that there cashier didn't really like talking about comics and I don't have people to talk to about them threw me off. (Always glad for professor Bill's reviews because that makes me feel heard and Kwingsletsplay when they talk comic games). I considered going back to reading illegally, but something inside made me say to myself that I gotta treat these stories and creators with more respect. Now, I usually buy comics 4 comics: Shazam!, Miles Morales, Batman and the Outsiders, and The Terrifics (all with Black characters, which is epic!) scattered throughout the month, picking up some that just pique my interest when I actually have money. I love comics and really want the medium to succeed, and it's thanks to a lot of reasons, but I want to thank you Sasha and all other comic content related KZfaqrs because y'all keep it interesting and accessible. (Sorry for this long response, just really wanted to get what I could out.)

I just discovered your channel, so I'm a bit late to this, but here I go. When I was little, superheroes were everywhere. For context, Spider-Man 2 came out when I was 5 years old, so I was around after superheroes came back into popularity. I remember loving to watch the original Spider-Man trilogy, Michael Keaton's batman, and a lot of the superhero cartoons at the time. Especially Teen Titans. They're probably the reason why Dick Grayson is my favourite superhero. I didn't get into comics until my senior year of high school. I had just gotten my first job, so I finally had money to spend, and since this was around the time Captain America: Civil War was coming out, I read the Civil War comic event. This may get me shot, but I think the movie was much better, but I still enjoyed it. I felt like I didn't know enough about the characters, though, so I spent the next few months just watching KZfaq videos on their history, so I could just jump in. Then I started to read Marvel's Star Wars comics, and I was hooked. So much that I don't have enough space to put my comics, since I live in a small apartment, and have gotten to the point of buying digital ones. Although the ones I'm super interested in, I make sure to buy physically. I am currently reading all of Nightwing's pre-flashpoint comics, and am loving every second of it.

I got into comics right around the time my grandparents passed away. Among my grandfather's personal affects were some comics, including the reveal that Thomas Wayne wore a batsuit for Halloween. Naturally, my Mom indulged in my new hobby. Thankfully, comics were still sold on newsstands at the time, so it was easy to keep up with the titles I enjoyed. Robin and Superboy became early favorites. Incidentally, Karl Kesel and Tom Grummet are still heroes of mine

My intro to comics was when I was 9 or so. There was this arcade I'd gone to a few times. Yes, I am old enough to have gone to arcades as a kid. Don't judge. Anyway, I digress, the arcade had one of the old X-Men cabinets. This one had Cyclops when he still wore the full head covering, Wolverine in his brown and orange, and Nightcrawler. I loved Nightcrawler. He just looked cool as all hell to me. So I got back home and told my friend, Richard, about it. I couldn't remember the name of the game, but I told him about the character I liked. He goes, "Yeah, dude, those are the X-Men. They're a comic book." I'm like, "What's a comic book?" Now, keep in mind, I'd seen comics before, of course. I knew what superheroes were. I'd read comic strips, I loved Calvin & Hobbes and Garfield. I'd seen the old Marvel Productions logo with Spider-man, and the Chris Reeves Superman, and both the Tim Burton Batman movies at that point, I'm sure. Maybe just the first one. Time blurs. Anyway, he winds up giving me a few of his comics. Most of them were, of course, X-Men. Uncanny, I think. Like there was the first appearance of Cable (I believe) with Bishop and Apocalypse and the Legacy virus and they basically throw Wolverine into a tank and that makes the antibodies for a cure. There was one with Warlock and Nightcrawler and they meet Warlock's dad on a cliff-hanger. There was another where I remember the cover clearly, it was Mystique holding a knife to Nightcrawler's throat and it was called "Heads You Lose". Mystique is basically going around this fair killing the X-Men. Even Wolverine, because back then you could kill Wolverine by slitting his throat because, as Mystique puts it, "No bones to block my blade, and even your enhanced healing factor won't stop your bleeding to death." Rogue had short hair and that horrendous green and white suit with the giant collar. Storm had a mohawk. Then there was Ghost Rider one where he was fighting Typhoid Mary. That one was pretty cool. Pretty sure that was the original Johnny Blaze Ghost Rider, too. Anyway, not long after that I found out about Spider-man and loved the hell out of that. Spawn and Image and all those other creator-owned companies were hitting the shelves around that point, too, by then. Loved Spawn, loved the X-Men show and Spider-man, and, of course, Batman the Animated Series. I never got into actually collecting comics until much later, first around 18 and then again a few years back. So I don't really have any "long boxes" myself. I mean, I would, but they're all in digital format now so...but, yeah, that's my intro to comics. An X-Men arcade cabinet and a friend who was in the know.

First comic I bought was an old issue of Spectacular Spider-Man where he crosses over with the Grey Hulk. It was the first half of a story that I didn't read the conclusion to until years later. The comic I have the most vivid memories of though is Sins Past. At time, my mum would take me to a library near our house every couple of weeks, and I guess someone there really liked Spider-Man because they would get the latest issue in whenever it came out. So, the first comic arc that I read from start to finish, as it was being release was Sins Past of all things. That story, while flawed would foster my love of Spider-Man. Funnily enough, years later when I started actively collecting Spider-Man trades, it was Sins Past that I had the hardest time getting my hands on. Who would have thought that one of the most widely disliked Spidey stories of the 2000s would be hard to get in trade?

Robotech. Elfquest. Dreadstar. Nexus. Those were the comics hanging on the rack at the news agent I visited every weekend in New York City in the early 1980s. I was about 8 years old. My life revolved around buying them and reading them until they fell apart. (FYI- the Robotech stuff DID fall apart. The glue and stapling used by Comico was terrible.)

My first comic book purchase was actually birthday present for my dad. He is a huge Donald Duck & Uncle Scrooge fan. I don't recall the actual purchase, I just remember giving him the Whitman comic. My collection began with Richie Rich and Casper. I really didn't get into buying superhero books until the original Contest of Champions mini-series. From then until about 1985 I was a Marvel/Epic reader. My younger brother and I were buying just about everything they published. Then I got into the indies. But to be fair, this is only half of the story. I grew up in the 70's. My introduction to superheroes was the Super Friends (featuring Marvin and Wendy) and reruns of Adam West's Batman. I remember learning about Marvel from a Bicentennial t-shirt (Cap standing in front of the Declaration of Independence with shield raise high). This was soon followed by memories of the prime time runs of Spider-Man (only saw one or two episodes), Wonder Woman and the Incredible Hulk (absolutely HAD to watch every episode). That was how I was introduced to the genre.

I was introduced to comics in 3rd grade, I stuttered very, very badly and my speech therapist thought it would be a good way for me to work on my fluency and communication skills in weekly sessions. I was already a huge cartoon fan and watched shows like Batman: The animated series, X-men and so on. I started with the typical Spider-man and Batman comics but it got expensive on my weekly allowance, so when Image comics was formed I fell in love with Darkness, Witchblade, Spawn, Savage Dragon, Shadow Hawk, Shi and some other indy comics. To this day my office has several Batman figurines on the shelves and it is a great tool for when I speak to my clients. I now only watch anime, documentaries and news, but all this started with picking up a comic book just so that I could have kids stop making fun of the way I spoke.

I started on SuperHero comics in the mid 70s when I was around 9 or 10, first titles were Spiderman, Daredevil, Iron Man and my favourites: the original X-Men (pre-1976). The weird range is because I grew up in France and a lot of comics were published every month in books with 3 or 4 titles in each. I started by reading older cousins' copies and then started pretty quickly in getting them bought for me monthly, but this wasn't enough so I grabbed anything I could find and other French books were doing other collections of Marvel Comics, Thor, The Avengers, The Defenders, Silver Surfer, the New X-Men... and then there were other books with a single hero but 3 or 4 episodes in them, this is how I got introduced to two of my favourites like Captain America and the Fantastic 4. So to me when the MCU started with so called 'B-List' heroes I was in my elements, Iron Man, Thor and Cap were my original heroes so there were A-List to me.

Great work! Been following you recently and really like your delivery on the comic media :-) I've been a fan of comics since I recall. As a mexican, my introduction to comic books wasn't through american comics, though I knew Marvel and DC characters from TV and Cinema. My mom used to collect newspaper clips of the argentinian strip 'Mafalda' and she gave my brother and me some 'Asterix & Obelix' volumes in spanish. The first comic I recall collecting was 'Capulinita', based on a funny guy from mexican movies and a tv show. My brother read 'Memín Pinguín' and by cousin 'Condorito'. I think the first american comics I read where at the dentist's office, where I remember picking a spanish reprint of the last issue of Batman - Venom, where he's in an island and breaks out of a cistern without his utility belt. I later had a trip to Houston with my mom and she bought me some more Batman: I remember this issue of Robin (didn't know it was Jason Todd until years later) spooking a crook in a balcony and making him fall off the apartment building, or another where he's facing some gangsters in a junkyard. Fastforward to junior-high and everything changed. They started airing on open TV, dubbed in spanish, Batman, Spiderman and the X-Men animated series, with comic-book reprints in spanish . A mysterious editorial press had the rights for Marvel, while the huge Editorial VID had the rights to DC. The X-Men comics printed in spanish by this little press started off with Claremont's and Lee's third volume, but they decided to keep in a single numbering scheme both the regular X-Men and Uncanny title in a "Flip-Book", which you turned to the back-cover to find other mini-series split as an extra ongoing story! The same with Spider-man, which started after the Clone Saga. In 1997, Mexico City had it's second or third major comic book convention (MECyF), where Editorial VID decided to launch the Image line in spanish, led by it's flagship Spawn, giving us attendants the first issue for free. I collected Spawn all the way to the beginning of college (around issue 150, 2004), the only title I really tried to follow issue by issue. I think I still have them stored in a box at my brothers' basement. That was really a trip through memory lane, thanks for the exercise ;-)

I got into comics in 1990 through my step dad. Batman has always been my favorite hero

I think most people are introduced to the characters in another medium before finding comics. For me it was probably things like Saturday morning cartoons and the 60's Batman show. I remember getting read along books that came with cassette tapes in the 80's. I think I had those were before actual comic books, but I probably started reading comics around age 5 or 6. I would read them over and over. Each time I think I understood more. I looked up words I didn't know and I eventually caught on to things like subtext and metaphor (without really knowing those terms yet). I had older cousins that were into comics and my mom had a few old ones she gave me too. Once I realized that the a lot of the stories continued month to month, I was hooked. I found out that there were comic book stores as opposed to just finding random issues at the grocery store or 7-Eleven, and asked my mom to take me to one.

I got into comics through G.I. Joe in the late '80s, which was licensed to Marvel at the time. My mom would leave me at the bookstore section of the NEX. An issue of X-Factor caught my eye when I went to pick up my latest G.I. Joe comic. It featured Ice-man, who I recognized from the "Spider-man and his Amazing Friends" cartoon. X-Factor lead to the rest of the X-Men universe (which was only 4 or 5 titles at the time). That lead to Spider-man. It still blows my mind that Larry Hama wrote all the dossiers on the back of the G.I. Joe action figure packaging. You got a backstory for every toy you bought. I imagine Hama got doubly screwed by Marvel and Hasbro since he probably just got paid as a salaried writer even though he created the entire franchise mythology. Anyway, I love your channel. Look into Larry Hama and G.I. Joe if you get a chance, maybe when the Snake Eyes movie comes out.

"frivol away"...way to convert an adjective into a verb, Sasha... as a child I used to have dreams (literally) of my room filled with comic books. I started reading when I was like seven and as a 60-year-old man, I remain obsessed with superheroes. I only collect TPB's as well Sash

This channel has become a supreme comfort to me

In the Netherlands, children usually start with Donald Duck comics. That's how it started for me at least. Donald Duck is a weekly comic book magazine over here, filled with both translated stories (like Carl Barks' comics) and stories written and drawn for the Dutch audience. It also features other stories, some featuring Disney characters, and others featuring comics from a Dutch comic book artists. The magazine is hugely popular for people with families, but they can also be found at dentist waiting rooms. And since everyone can afford healthcare over here, we all get to go the dentist, and we all get to read Donald Duck in the waiting room. Even though my family wasn't subscribed, I've seen my fair share of Donald. Other comics I'd get to read at a young age were the likes of Lucky Luke and Suske & Wiske. Both are by Belgian comic book writers/artists (did you know that most European comic books are both written and drawn by the same person?). I'd go to the library as a kid and read lots of comics there, and then take a few books home. My mom would get mad at me whenever I'd bring something like Loisel's Peter Pan home with me. That book clearly wasn't meant for kids, but what did I know? As I got older, I really got into super heroes. I'd first started reading Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The ones produced by Archie. Halfway through my teens I found out about X-men. I got hooked on that. It's a shame I stuck with the Dutch translations of these comics. I'm not complaining about the quality, but sometimes issues got lost in the process because they were rushing to catch up with the original print.

My dad had a bunch of comics that I used to look at as a kid, but the first comics I brought for myself were the three pack back Marvel back issues that Walgreens used to sale. Out of all of them, I mostly remember the issue of Web of Spider-Man where a cosmic powered Spidey fought Goliath: I must've re-read that one a dozen times. And then they started selling newer comics: What If (all of which I still have and I got a letter printed in one), Man of Steel, Adventures of Superman, X-Men, X-Factor...I was hooked for life after that.

I was maybe 6 when I grabbed up one of my dad's X-Men comics. I just looked through the pictures until eventually I read them. I remember my dad came up with the idea that when I do all my chores for the week I would get a comic. And so began my life in comics. I read graphic novels after that. I got tens from the library after that. My main love still stayed as X-Men. I began collecting the giant X-Men Essentials. From there came New Mutants, then the entire Marvel Universe. As a youth I mostly looked at the pictures but more and more I loved the stories. I was also raised on Spiderman and His Amazing Friends. I then started collecting JSA which became my favorite team. Then on DC joined my realm on interest. After that I read Invincible, Saga, and a ton of other stories. I just loved then all. And so I became a huge comic nerd and what I am now.

I was 5 years old the first time I saw the old "Spider-Man" cartoon (this would be Summertime 1977. Yeah, I'm old, but my inner child is about 9). It was my last day in Barbados before I left to return to Canada with my uncle & aunt, & just happen to catch it playing on the TV (the entire island had one TV station back then) I remember my 5-year-old brain wondering what his webs were made of. I found out 6 months later when I started reading the comics. BTW, your dad sounds cool af. Shout out to him for raising such a great kid!

Other than the strips in the newspaper (Calvin & Hobbes, Bloom County, etc) I was never into comics as a kid and aged out of the cartoons at the socially "appropriate" time. So I came into comic book fandom with that dreaded heterosexual adult male gaze and a F/SF novel reader's sensibility for story. I don't remember exactly what got me started, but it was probably something I came across browsing an SF con dealer's room with friends. The earliest title I remember with the biggest impact in drawing me into the fandom is probably Appleseed by Shirow Masamune. Girl Genius from Studio Foglio is the only current title I'm following. For additional insight into my artistic tastes, I love the original creative team on Gen13, but dropped the title when the art changed.

Growing up in the '70's, we didnt have comic shops in small town, U.S.A. I dont think they caught on for another ten to fifteen years. But the general stores, ya, we still had those then, had a four way rotating rack or two. Usually with three packs. Only guarantee is that all three would be DC or MARVEL. Along with DELL, GOLD KEY or CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED. That was my introduction to comics, between ages of eight and ten, maybe a little younger. Didn't take long for CAPTAIN AMERICA and the FALCON to become my favorite.

Okay, I'm ancient, but the first superhero I remember seeing was Batman on TV (1966), then the movie, and Topps cards (of which I had a bunch, as my Dad would buy me packs of them at the local drug store). My older cousin always had a bunch of comics (mostly DC) at my grandmother's when I visited, so I would read them. The first comic issue I specifically recall is Amazing Spider-man #6 (it had to be a few years after its release, probably belonging to my aforementioned cousin; he may have even given it to me as a hand-me-down). I remember being somewhat disturbed by the that little boy in the swamp with the lizard lurking in the background. I also thought the pics depicting the transformation of Dr. Connors into the Lizard (and vice versa) were cool. By 1970 I was getting my own -- almost exclusively Marvel. I started collecting seriously with The Incredible Hulk (Bruce Banner on trial, then him shrinking and spending time in a microverse). I started collecting Spider-man with the death of Gwen Stacey (Oops. Spoiler! Oh well, it's been like 47 years. If you didn't know she died, it's not my fault.) I remember one of Stan's soap boxes (or something like it) from around 1975 with him discussing how a first issue of Fantastic Four had sold for an unimaginably high price of $40. We laugh at that price now, but 45 years ago, $40 for a $0.10, 14-year old comic book was a lot. I subsequently branched into practically everything Marvel through 1979 when I just stopped and sold everything I had acquired up to that point. Around 1982 I decided to resume reading & collecting comics, and had to spend a small fortune trying to get all the issues I used to have -- including Amazing Spider-man#129 (which, even in 1982 wasn't cheap). I collected through early 1988, then stopped forever and sold everything I had for a pathetic fraction of what it had been worth at the time -- at least seven long boxes (possibly more), bagged, backed and crammed to the max. (I think at the time they were priced at $5200. I sold them for $1500 -- the money I needed to pay off my car.)

I got into the graphic novel versions of Elfquest, Sandman, Watchman and V for Vendetta in college. Was never that into the more mainstream Marvel or DC comics/heroes until recently. The MCU has really gotten me fascinated. I don’t own a ton of single-issue comics, but I am revisiting infinity gauntlet/infinity war saga, watching a lot of comic KZfaq videos. I think I’ve finally gotten past my “I only like alternative comics.” stage. 😉 Spider-Man and Wonderwoman? Kinda awesome 🙂🙂🙂

My parents went to a used bookstore in Milwaukee when I was 10 or so. After a while , I found a box of comics (The Legion of Superheroes). When my parents were finally leaving (about an hour later), I showed up at the register with the box, asking if I could have it. My father wasn't too thrilled, but my mother spoke up for me, and when Dad found out they only wanted five dollars for the entire box, he decided to indulge me.

My mother collected comic books. She had everything from Marvel and DC. She kept them in the basement where I and my brother read them. I'm mainly a Marvel guy but my favorite characters are Thor, Spider-Man, Nightcrawler, Martian Manhunter, and Wonder Woman. I haven't consistently collected comics for years, since the prices spiked and every book tied into other books but your program keeps me caught up and might get me to start collecting again. Thanx.

I discovered my Dad's survivor comic books from the 1940s in 1960 in my Grandparents basement. A coverless "Big Shot" with Skyman and Sparky Watts. Also 4 or 5 "King Comics" (I still have), a Superman #17 missing it's cover and two wraps, and lastly the front cardboard cover to World's Finest #6. Mom threw the Superman away, and the Big Shot disappeared. The Whiz #1 Dad had is a story unto itself. Anyway, that's how it started.

My first comic was the old school "What If" 2-parter that explored "What if Spider-Man hadn't married Mary Jane (& then) married Black Cat?" Was a depressing yet fun read (find out later it'd be a trademark to the What If line, LOL). This was followed by the mind-blowing storyline of Jim Starlin's Infinity Gauntlet. Now THAT was badass. I was a poor kid (meaning little independent money of my own) & reading it multiple times, while leaning against the stacks of a Walden Books. This was like the early 1990s.

My mom brought me to a comic book store when I was four. I asked her why she hadn't told me about it when I was three, LOL. I didn't know how to read yet. My mom would read my Hulk comics to me. I was a big fan of comic book TV shows and cartoons. Hulk, Batman, Superman and Spidey were my faves. Comics were my favorite thing since that day at the comic book store in 1987. In 1995, when I was twelve, most of my collection was stolen by a kid who lived up the street and was hanging out with my little brother. My brother had traded more than half of my comics in exchange for a few fake gold coins. Meanwhile, I was out with a new group of friends learning about the awesomeness of marijuana. When I got home, I was high for one of my first times. I noticed a box of my comics had BB gun holes in the box, as if someone had been using it for target practice with a BB gun. I opened the box and noticed most of my comics were gone. The remaining comics were damaged from BB's. I beat the shit out my brother for a while. I was crying. My dad let me do it. Dad was livid because he is the one that bought the comics. He couldn't believe my brother had done that. He spent a fortune on those. My parents and I went to the kid's house and tried to get the comics back, but the kid's parents said their son had given them away at school. I never collected the same way ever again. I have comics, just not a ton of 'em. I read online for free. I learned to let go of everything material. The people who took my comics lived up the street from me. Their house burned down a year later. It was then remodeled better than how it had been previously. My parents always voiced their opinion of how those people probably pulled an insurance scam. Even their TV was bigger and better. Their stuff got torched and everything was replaced with an upgrade.

I didn't really get a big chance to read a lot of comics when I was a kid. Most of my knowledge came from movies, video games, and cartoons. One series I LOVED though was Spider-Man, and still do. One day , I remember my dad got a newspaper for the week and in it was a collector's issue of Amazing Fantasy #15. It turned out that the paper was going to release an issue of Spider-Man every week, and some would have a more modern cover. I was enthralled. I would tear the paper apart to get the issue from inside. Eventually I had them all in a Ziploc bag and did everything to keep them safe. Later, I would get to go to my first Comic Con when I was in college and my friends told me what was the complete sell: Stan Lee was going to be there and doing autograph signings. I made sure to pack my Ziploc bag and wanted to get that Amazing Fantasy signed, but sadly to make a long story short I completely missed my chances. Now, I am trying to build up a collection of Trades. I don't have many now, but my most treasured is Dark Nights Death Metal. I love it

I know this video is old but I recently discovered your channel and wanted to share my story. I grew up in the 70s and 80s. My first taste of comics was my parents buying me Archie digests to read on road trips. Nothing riveting but they kept me entertained on long car rides. It wasn't until I discovered the stack of Captain Canuck comics at the local barber shop that I really got interested in real comic books. I would gravitate to the metal rack in the grocery store and spend my allowance money on whatever caught my eye (usually Spider-Man and GI Joe). Then one day my dad and I were Kensington (a neighborhood in Calgary) and we found the first comic shop I had ever seen. We went in and I was blown away by all of the comics. Within months I had a file and was collecting more and more titles every week. Mostly Marvel but I dabbled in some Epic and Dark Horse titles. By 1999 I had and still have about 6 long boxes full. At this time I slowly started dropping titles from my list until I finally quit all together. I miss those days and I have tried to get my daughters interested in comics so I could have someone to leave my collection to but they don't like them the way I did. Thanks for listening and keep making interesting content

I grew up watching the old 50's episodes of Superman as well as Batman with Adam West. Then there was the 60's version of Spiderman. Superheroes dominated my life. My first real comic book experience was the first three issues of Shogun Warriors from Marvel. From there I had the issues of Buck Rodgers and Battlestar Gallactica but I really didn't start focusing on comics until 1992 with an issue of Spiderman where it revisited his origin story while dealing with some crooks. Spidey comes to find out that he helped to change the life of a young boy who's father was the one who killed Uncle Ben. I also collected Steel, Nightwatch, Micronauts, the Amalgam issues, X-Men Age of Apocalypse, Wolverine. I am mostly into getting back issues these days but superheroes will always be a part of my life and comics helped to fuel it.

Grew up in the early 80's. My first exposure to comics were various Swedish kids' comics as well as Tintin, Spirou, Laureline & Valerian and the Swedish licensed comics of The Phantom...but also classic 70's Superman and Batman stories and old black and white pocket-sized tpb's of classic Spider-Man arcs. I had access to them through my brother, who collected everything he could get his hands on.

First exposure to Comics that caused the addiction? It was late May 1958. I was waiting for a haircut at Woody's barbershop, all of 5 years old and 3 months from starting Kindergarten. Thanks to my Mom and my maternal great grandfather, I'd been reading for about 8 months or so. I picked up a comic (anyone else remember when Barbers kept comics in their shops?) and found a new world. There was Superman that I knew from Television, (though I was surprised by the costume's color scheme), but the story that really got my interest was about kid heroes from a thousand years in the future. When I started intentionally collecting several years later, I figured out that what I found was Adventure Comics #247. My wife hates my collection, and my kids never got it either and weren't interested, but I'm corrupting the grandkids with comics.

I can relate to a television show influencing the 1st comics you buy. When I was a child, many ages ago, there was a cartoon called Spider-man and his amazing friends, in which Spider-man, iceman and Firestar lived together. I was devastated to pick up my first Spider-man comic and find no hint of Firestar and Iceman anywhere, but, fortunately I loved the art by Todd Mcfarlane and I thought Spider-man was cool.

Being into scary movies as a kid, my first introduction to comics were a couple of DC 1970's horror anthology comics (Weird War Tales #22 and House of Secrets #123) that I picked up at a neighborhood garage sale (I was probably 9-10 years old at that time). Not long after that, the first superhero comic I bought was Marvel's The Defenders #30. I saw an image of Doctor Strange that really intrigued me, so I went down to the local convenience store to buy a Doctor Strange comic, but then I saw The Defenders on the shelf, which not only had Doctor Strange in it, but also the Hulk and other interesting looking heroes, so I grabbed that title instead figuring I was getting more for my money with a team book than a single character book. I REALLY enjoyed that issue, which lead me to sampling and collecting many other hero titles from Marvel and DC, esp if they were team titles or team-up titles (Avengers, Uncanny X-Men, Justice League of America, Justice Society of America, Marvel Team-up, Brave and the Bold, etc). Been collecting ever since, except for a broke 5 year period in the early 80's, which I've made up for in finding/buying back issues since then. The introduction of The Dark Knight Returns and The Sandman (with it's homage to 1970's DC horror anthology hosts) are what really got me back into FULLY collecting/reading comics again.

My first comics were brought by my aunt and uncle who visited from the US. They were Punisher: War Zone #1, a Ghost Rider comic about some sidekick blue chickrider and how she learned from sabertooth ghost rider to be more heroic and some Dr. Strange comic where he tries to teach a wannabe Jesus looking guy magic but he decides in the end "nah, I'm good". I must have read those things like a bajillion times, because back then in Eastern Europe comics weren't popular and you couldn't order them off the internet, which I didn't have until 2005 anyway!😂 But yeah, those comics and the Blade movie trilogy jumpstarted my love for comics and superheroes.

My dad got me into comics. When I was a kid, he brought home a trunk full and I started reading through them.

I have a few memories of a very young (around 4 to 7 years old) me, first getting into comics. My Mom was the one you got me interested in them. I remember having Betty and Veronica, Ariel the Little Mermaid, and of all things Spawn. Spawn was the one who fascinated me the most, I had action figures, and have a memory of when before I could really read loving how his cape sometimes flowed out of panels. Also Angela was the best. Can't tell you any other particulars of the original series but I am slowly collecting them so I can reread. Also might be why I have a fear of clowns...

In the early 80's, I saw my older brother reading 'Conan The Barbarian'. As an artist I was drawn to what he was reading because of the cool Cover Art. I couldn't read too well. So I just liked looking at the pictures and sort of made up what I was looking at. Because I live way up in Northern Canada. The Hudson's Bay Company Store is where I was able to purchase these comics. Years later, I also saw 'The Punisher'. Now, both of these comics were Black and White. John Buscema drew Conan and Jim Lee did The Punisher. Man. Good times. :)

I have only recently found your channel and I'm loving your content. With so much commentary seemingly rooted in political and social divides, I have found your videos refreshingly balanced and focused on the stories. You're a star. Watching this video I was surprised that we had so much in common (as I'm sure I'm a lot older than you). As a kid in the 90s, I watched the Spider-Man and X-Men cartoons. I had seen a couple of comic books, but didn't really know much about them. When I was 17, I moved towns and one of my new friends collected Batman and Superman comics. I read his books and liked them. When I finished school and left for university, I found I missed reading them, so I started buying my own. Thinking back to those X-Men cartoons, those are what I started with. I jumped on with the storyline leading up to the Generation X book and soon after there was the Age of Apocalypse, which blew my mind. Fast forward a couple of years, I heard about Witchblade. The covers almost turned me off, but I checked them out. While the stories were more mature than typical superhero fare, thankfully they were a lot more intricate and character-driven than the covers suggested. I really loved those first 16 or so issues. I should reread them. They also made me a huge fan of Michael Turner's artwork. Thanks for the videos.

My first introduction to comics came from old reruns of The Batman 66 show and then seeing Batman 89 at the movies. I was 8 years old at the time, and I just fell in love with the Batman, because he was badass and everything I wanted to be. So as time went on, I learned through talking to people that he was a comic book character, and at that age I didn't know much about comic books, but I knew what the Sunday comic strips were in the newspaper, from Garfield, Farside and Calvin and Hobbes. So about that time the newspaper started print Batman comic strips, so that help set the hook even deeper lol. Now when I was younger, ADHD and dyslexia so reading did not come easy, when I was younger, so I had mom and dad help me and slowly I got better at. So fast forwarding a little bit My very first comic I bought and read was The Infinity war 1, I remember being totally lost wondering what was going on LOL! But liking it just the same because it had a ton of heros in it and, It was kind of my first exposure to one my favorite Characters Wolverine! But even after this book, I didn't buy a whole lot of comics because I didn't have a lot of money at the time. But once I got a job and money well I went comic collecting insane buying everything I could lol trades and the issues too lol so that would have been 2001 or so and I've been collecting hardcore on and off since then! =)

I started off with some Tom & Jerry comics in the 70's. Accidentally left them up in a tree and lost them in a storm. Didn't collect any more comics until the early 80's with the Empire Strikes Back comic book adaption.

My dad had a few old Dazzler comics from the Disco era that I read when I was really young. Then I bought a few random Spider-Man issues from a corner store after getting into the old Spider-Man and Friends cartoon. But it was when I became completely obsessed with the TMNT cartoon that my mom took me to our local comic book store for the first time. In a few short years from there, I was filling my own cardboard boxes with dozens of titles.

OMG my parents did the same thing with the whole "cover your ears and turn your head" whenever something inappropriate happened on the Television or watching a VHS. My earliest movie I remember watching at home with the family was Silence of the Lambs.